A homework assignment from Haverhill High School in Massachusetts asked high school students if President Donald Trump is a fascist, sparking fury from some parents that it was too political of a question. Screengrab from CBS Boston

A homework assignment from Haverhill High School in Massachusetts asked high school students if President Donald Trump is a fascist, sparking fury from some parents that it was too political of a question. Screengrab from CBS Boston

Was it a thought-provoking question — or a homework assignment that just went too far?

That’s the debate in a Massachusetts town after a history teacher asked students at Haverhill High School to determine if President Donald Trump exhibits fascist tendencies, according to WHDH. It was titled “Some People Claim that Donald Trump is a Fascist: Time to Check it Out!”

For Dave Prescott, whose child attends the school, the take-home assignment wasn’t an appropriate way to educate students.

“I support the president,” Prescott told CBS. “I support a lot of the things he does. And for them to talk about fascism, in regards to the president, I just think this isn’t what I’m sending my kids to school for.

“The Haverhill High School History Department works diligently to engage scholars in relevant and thought-provoking tasks and sometimes when developing these lessons ‘hot-button’ issues are discussed,” he wrote, according to the newspaper. “As we support the thinkers and problems solvers of tomorrow we believe it is imperative that our scholars are supported to grapple with and debate these topics in a safe space.

“With that being said, not every lesson is developed perfectly and feedback is necessary to bring to our attention that we missed the mark and have created a learning opportunity that skews the thinking of our scholars,” he continued, according to The Eagle-Tribune.

Ted Kempinski, president of the Haverhill Education Association, said the goal of the homework was for students to “develop the skills to analyze documents and come up with their own factually based opinions,” according to WHDH.

One student who did the homework defended it as “a great idea,” according to Boston25 News.

“Definitely some things could have been done differently,” Spencer Zbitnoff told the outlet, “but overall I think it was a fantastic, interesting way, interesting twist on research.”